When a high profile figure does something unusual, we all seem to hear about it. When they leave us we wonder why, and start to question our own vulnerabilities. On June 13, 2008, a not so unusual event occurred at the NBC studios in Washington DC. You may be surprised to learn that the same event occurs hundreds of time per day, and yet it seems sudden and shocking. It is called a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and kills more people in this country than lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined.

There is a definite, tangible benefit to the media attention this tragic loss has occasioned. It is the awareness of sudden cardiac arrest. The more the media relays the story of Tim Russert’s collapse, the more the public becomes aware. SCA has been the nations’ number one, “silent, serial killer” for too long already.

July 24, 2008­–LOS ANGELES­–Television star Kelsey Grammer, best known from “Cheers” and his sitcom “Frasier,” nearly died after suffering sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) last month, he told U.S. showbiz news program “Entertainment Tonight.”

Grammer, 53, felt chest pains while paddle-boarding with his wife in Hawaii, where they have a second home, and was taken to hospital, where he was found to have suffered a heart attack that led to cardiac arrest.